1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to antimicrobial solutions for food safety and quality applications. The prevention of contamination of food product by pathogenic microorganisms is important to protect public health. The reduction of spoilage microorganisms in food manufacturing facilities can extend product shelf lives and reduce the amount of food that is discarded as waste. There is a need for improved methods of controlling microorganisms in food production plants. Bacteria, yeast and molds can accumulate at a variety of different points in a food manufacturing operation; the more points at which viable microorganisms can be controlled, the lower the chances of food contamination and the safer the manufacturing process.
The invention described herein is a food-safe solution than may be used in a variety of applications to control microorganisms in food plant operations, including the disinfection of food processing equipment as well as disinfection of the food product itself. The invention consists of a mixture of a salt, such as sodium chloride, with an acid and a surfactant, such as sodium lauryl sulfate. Suitable acids include citric, malic, acetic, propionic, lactic, benzoic, ascorbic, isoascorbic, sorbic, phosphoric, hydrochloric, malic, tartaric, adipic, succinic, glutaric, salicylic, and sulfuric acids as well as sodium bisulfate. The salt can be selected from inorganic salts including the sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and ammonium salts of chloride, sulfate, nitrate, phosphate, carbonate, and hydroxide. Suitable surfactants include sodium lauryl sulfate, linear alkylbenzene sulfonates, alcohol sulfates, alpha-olefin sulfonates, alcohol ethoxylates, nonylphenyl ethoxylates, alkylpolyglucosides, fatty alkanoamides, fatty amine oxides, sodium dioctylsulfosuccinate, dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid and its salts, the sodium salt of sulfonated oleic acid, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, and dodecyldiphenyloxide-disulfonic acid and its salts.
A preferred formulation contains between 25 ppm and 25,000 ppm surfactant, between 0.1% acid and 25% acid, and between 72.5% and 99.9% salt. This blend can then be dissolved in water to make a solution ranging in concentration from about 1% total solids by weight up to the saturation point, which can be used as an antimicrobial solution for food safety applications.
2. Description of Prior Art
The use of acids and surfactants as antibacterial agents is known. These cannot be used in environments where operation at low temperature is required, as their effectiveness drops off significantly at lower temperature and, of course, operation below 0° C. is typically prevented by freezing.
Other antibacterial agents have been identified, but their use is problematic due to their non-food quality status. For example, a wide variety of chemical disinfecting agents are in use in food plants. However, there are often disadvantages to these chemicals. In some instances they are too toxic to come into direct contact with the food itself, and many present worker safety or environmental waste disposal issues. In other instances they are insufficiently effective to provide adequate kill of microorganisms, especially at low temperatures. Additionally, the relatively high cost of these chemicals adds to the cost of food production and, consequently, increases the cost of the end product itself.
Salt has been used for thousands of years as a food preservative. Generally, however, salt solutions alone are not sufficiently effective as antibacterial agents, as they do not provide a speedy mechanism for killing unwanted bacteria that permits their exclusive use in food processing environments.
Thus, a problem associated with the antimicrobial solutions for food safety applications that precede the present invention is that they do not provide an improved antimicrobial solution for food safety applications having operating parameters adaptable to a multiplicity of applications in the food processing industry.
Another problem associated with the antimicrobial solutions for food safety applications that precede the present invention is that they do not provide an antimicrobial solution for food safety applications having safe, acceptable ingredients for use in food processing to prevent bacteria from accumulating in food processing operations.
Yet another problem associated with the antimicrobial solutions for food safety applications that precede the present invention is that they do not provide an antimicrobial solution for food safety applications that can be used at temperatures below room temperature, and preferably below the normal freezing point of water (0° C.).
Still a further problem associated with the antimicrobial solutions for food safety applications that precede the present invention is that they may contain or lead to toxic and/or environmentally undesirable additives. For example, they may contain quaternary ammonium chloride as the anti-bacterial ingredient, or they may form chlorinated or brominated byproducts, or they may contain phosphates.
Yet another problem associated with the antimicrobial solutions for food safety applications that precede the present invention is that they do not provide an antimicrobial solution for food safety applications that is relatively inexpensive to purchase, use and maintain.
For the foregoing reasons, there has been defined a long felt and unsolved need for antimicrobial solutions for food safety applications that are comparatively inexpensive to use and maintain and are adaptable to accommodate a variety of operating conditions. In contrast to the foregoing, the present invention constitutes antimicrobial solutions for food safety applications that seek to overcome the problems discussed above while at the same time providing a simple, relatively easily implemented treatment and method that is readily adapted to a variety of applications.